Governor not pursuing waiver for restrictions as economy supposedly recovers

Gov. John Kasich’s refusal to seek another waiver for federal regulations on food stamps will force 18,000 current recipients in Hamilton County to meet work requirements if they want the benefits to continue.

Under federal law, “able-bodied” childless adults receiving food
stamps are required to work or attend work training for 20 hours a week.
But when the Great Recession began, the federal government handed out
waivers to all states, including Ohio, so they could provide food
assistance without placing burdens on under- and unemployed populations.

Kasich isn’t asking for a renewal of that waiver, which means
134,000 Ohioans in most Ohio counties, including 18,000 in Hamilton
County, will have to meet the 20-hours-per-week work requirement to get
their $200 a month in food aid starting in January, after recipients go through a three-month limit on benefits for those not meeting the work requirements.

The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services explained earlier in September that the waiver is no longer necessary in all but 16 counties because Ohio’s economy is now recovering from the Great Recession. Two weeks later, the August jobs report put Ohio’s unemployment rate at a one-year high of 7.3 percent after the state only added 0.6 percent more jobs between August 2012 and August this year.

At the same time, the federal government appears ready to allow stimulus funding for food stamp programs to expire in November. The extra money was adopted
in the onset of the Great Recession to provide increased aid to those hit
hardest by the economic downturn.

That means 18,000 food stamp recipients in Hamilton County
will have to meet a 20-hour-per-week work requirements to receive $189
per month — $11 less than current levels — for food aid starting in
November. Assuming three meals a day, that adds up to slightly more
than $2 per meal.

The $11 loss might not seem like much, but Tim McCartney,
chief operating officer at the Hamilton County Department of Job and
Family Services (HCDJFS), says it adds up for no- and low-income individuals.

“Food assistance at the federal level is called SNAP,
which is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It’s not designed to
be the entire food budget for yourself or your family. It’s designed to
be a supplement. So anything you lose to a supplement, you obviously
didn’t have enough in the first place,” McCartney says.

HCDJFS already helps some recipients of other welfare
programs meet work requirements through local partnerships. But to avoid
further straining those partners with a rush of 18,000 new
job-searchers, the county agency is also allowing food stamp recipients
to set up their own job and job training opportunities with other local
organizations, including neighborhood groups, churches and community
centers.

McCartney says he’s also advising people to pursue job opportunities at Cincinnati’s SuperJobs Center,
which attempts to link those looking for work with employers. McCartney
says the center has plenty of job openings, but many people are unaware
of the opportunities.

“This population sometimes has additional barriers with
previous convictions or drug and mental health issues that would
eventually exempt them, but for others, there are plenty of
opportunities right now that we’d like to connect them with,” he says.

Conservatives, especially Republicans, argue the work
requirements are necessary to ensure people don’t take advantage of the
welfare system to gain easy benefits. But progressives are concerned the
restrictions will unfairly hurt the poorest Ohioans and the economy.

At the federal level, Republican legislators, including
local Reps. Steve Chabot and Brad Wenstrup, are seeking further cuts to the food stamp program through H.R. 3102, which would slash
$39 billion over 10 years from the program. Part of the savings in the
bill come from stopping states from obtaining waivers on work
requirements.

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio
Association of Foodbanks, decried the bill in a statement: “Congress
shouldn’t be turning to Ohio’s poorest people to find savings —
especially children and others who are unable to work for their own
food. The proposal the Ohio members of Congress supported is immoral,
and our lawmakers must work together to represent all their
constituents. No one should be in the business of causing hunger, yet
that’s the choice the Ohio members of Congress made today.”

The legislation is unlikely to make it through the U.S. Senate, but President Barack Obama promised to veto the bill if it comes to his desk.

Correction: This story previously said the restrictions start removing “able-bodied” childless adults from the rolls in October instead of January.

Ohio added 32,500 jobs between August 2012 and August
2013, but a larger amount of unemployed workers helped push the
unemployment rate to 7.3 percent in August this year, up from 7.2
percent the month and year before, according to data released today by
the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The amount of unemployed workers climbed by 9,000 to 419,000 over the
year and 3,000 throughout the previous month, while month-over-month
employment decreased by 8,200. The biggest losses for the month were in
educational and health services and leisure and hospitality, which were
too high for month-over-month gains in trade, transportation, and
utilities, professional and business services and government employment
to overcome.

More than half of Cincinnati’s children live in poverty,
according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2012 American Community Survey
released yesterday. The 2012 rate represents a roughly 10-percent
increase in the city’s child poverty rate in the past two years. In
2010, 48 percent of Cincinnatians younger than 18 were considered
impoverished; in 2012, the rate was 53.1 percent. Overall poverty
similarly increased in Cincinnati from 30.6 percent in 2010 to 34.1
percent in 2012. The increases hit black residents and perhaps Hispanics
harder than white Cincinnatians, although a large margin of error makes
it hard to tell if the results are accurate for the city’s Hispanic
population.

Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls yesterday unveiled
“The Qualls Plan to Grow Cincinnati,” an outline of her platforms and
what she would do during her first 100 days as mayor if she’s selected
by voters on Nov. 5. The plan proposes three major changes that Qualls
would pursue within 100 days of taking office: She would reinstitute the
Shared Services Commission to see which city services can be managed in
conjunction with Hamilton County or other political jurisdictions; she
would propose a job tax credit for businesses that create jobs that pay a
living wage and provide benefits; and she would “renew business
districts” by making unused city property available at a “nominal fee”
to local startups and small businesses. The plan also outlines various
platforms that focus on providing new opportunities to businesses,
leveraging partnerships and making the city more inclusive and
transparent.

Four-fifths of companies approved for Ohio tax credits
this year said they’d create jobs paying less than the $65,000 a year
promised by Pure Romance, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Pure Romance was originally planning on moving from Loveland to
downtown Cincinnati with state and local support, but the company might
instead move to Kentucky following the state’s decision to not grant tax
credits. State officials say they rejected Pure Romance because the
company isn’t part of industries the state usually invests in, but
companies like Kroger don’t meet the traditional standards and still get
tax credits. Democrats say the Republican-controlled state government
is afraid to financially support a company that includes sex toys in its
product lineup.

Two Hamilton County agencies were reprimanded
in a state audit released yesterday. But Hamilton County Department of
Job and Family Services (HCDJFS) spokesperson Brian Gregg says the
findings relied on two-year-old data and were largely managerial
problems that the agency will fix. Meanwhile, a $2,400 overcharge at the
Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office led to an investigation and criminal
charges against the property officer supervisor as well as new policies
to protect payment systems in the future.

The ballot initiative that would pursue the Medicaid expansion yesterday got the green light to start collecting signatures
from the Ohio Ballot Board. Under Obamacare, states are asked to expand
their Medicaid programs to 138 percent of the federal poverty level; if
they accept, the federal government will pay for the entire expansion
through 2016 then phase down its payments to an indefinite 90 percent.
The Health Policy Institute of Ohio found the expansion would insure
nearly half a million Ohioans and generate $1.8 billion for the state
over the next decade. But Republican legislators have so far resisted
calls from Republican Gov. John Kasich and Democrats to take up the
expansion, which has forced advocates to pursue the issue for the 2014
ballot. CityBeat covered Obamacare and the Medicaid expansion in greater detail here.

Although Attorney General Mike DeWine said the threat of
felony charges is enough to deter someone from misusing the state’s
expansive law enforcement database, the state failed to bring charges
to the system’s lead attorney when he resigned in 2009 after misusing
the database. Still, the abuse happened before DeWine was in office and
the controversial facial recognition program was in place. Gov. Kasich previously said he was concerned about the facial recognition program, which allows law enforcement to use a simple photo to search for someone’s address and contact information.

From the Associated Press:
“The Ohio attorney general’s multi-state case against a man accused of
fraud after collecting as much as $100 million in the name of Navy
veterans doesn’t address the man's donations to a who’s who of mostly
Republican politicians, including the attorney general himself.”

On the same day a Libertarian announced he’s running for governor in 2014, State Sen. Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) proposed new state restrictions
for minor parties. The standards are less stringent than state rules
that were struck down by a federal court in 2006, but the Libertarian
Party of Ohio denounced the bill as an attempt to protect Gov. Kasich’s
re-election bid in 2014.

Cincinnati home sales were up 24 percent in August — another sign that the local economy is recovering.

Census shows poverty on the rise in Cincinnati

The 2012 rate represents a roughly
10-percent increase in the city’schild poverty rate in the past two years. In 2010, 48
percent of Cincinnatians younger than 18 were considered impoverished;
in 2012, the rate was 53.1 percent.

If the number was reduced back down to 2010 levels, approximately 4,500 Cincinnati children would be pulled out of poverty.

Overall poverty similarly increased in Cincinnati from 30.6 percent in 2010 to 34.1 percent in 2012.

Black residents were hit hardest with 46.4 percent classified as in poverty in 2012, up from 40.8 percent in 2010. Meanwhile,
the poverty rate among white residents went from 19.8 percent in 2010 to
22.9 percent in 2012.

Hispanics of any race were placed at a poverty rate of 51
percent in 2012, but that number had an extraordinary margin of error of
15.5 percent, which means the actual poverty rate for Hispanics could
be up to 15.5 percent higher or lower than the survey’s estimate. In
2010, 42 percent of Hispanics were classified as impoverished, but that
number had an even larger margin of error of 17.9 percent.

The other local numbers had margins of error ranging from 2.2 percent to 4.9 percent.

The child poverty rates for Cincinnati were more than double Ohio’s numbers. Nearly one in four Ohio
children are in poverty, putting the state at No. 33 worst among 50 states for child
poverty, according to the Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio.

In 2012, the U.S. government put the federal poverty level for a family of four at an annual income of $23,050.

Some groups are using the numbers to make the case for new policies.

“Too many Ohioans are getting stuck at the lowest rung of
the income ladder and kids are paying the price,” said Hannah Halbert,
workforce researcher for left-leaning think tank Policy Matters Ohio, in
a statement. “Policymakers — at both the state and federal levels — are
making a clear choice to not invest in workers, families or kids. This
approach is not moving our families forward.”

The federal government temporarily increased aid to
low-income Americans through the federal stimulus package in 2009, but
some of that extra funding already expired or is set to expire later in
the year. The food stamp program’s cuts in particular could hit 1.8 million Ohioans, according to an Aug. 2 report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

First progress report outlines strategy, initial outcomes

Strategies to End Homelessness on Wednesday released its first annual progress report
detailing how the organization intends to reduce homelessness
in Hamilton County by half from 2012 to 2017. That means reducing the
county’s homeless population of more than 7,000 to roughly 3,500 in five
years.

The plan doesn’t focus on providing shelter services to the
needy; instead, Strategies to End Homelessness is advocating tactics
that prevent homelessness entirely and attempt to permanently address
the issue.

The main strategies, according to the report: prevention,
rapid rehousing that lasts six to 12 months, transitional housing for up
to 24 months and permanent supportive housing that targets the
chronically homeless and disabled.

For the organization, the goal is to reduce
homelessness by using supportive services to get to the root of the issue, whether it’s joblessness, mental health problems or other causes, and ensure shelter services
aren’t necessary in the first place.

“Of the various types of programs within our homeless
services system, households served in prevention were least likely to
become homeless within the next 24 months,” the report reads. “Among
supportive housing programs, Rapid Rehousing programs cost less, serve
households for significantly shorter periods of time, and have increased
long-term success compared to other supportive housing program types.”

The cost savings get to the major argument repeatedly
raised by homeless advocates: If society helps transition its homeless
population to jobs and permanent housing, governments will see savings and new
revenue as less money is put toward social services and the homeless
become productive economic actors who pay taxes.

Prevention in particular had particularly strong financial
results, according to the Strategies to End Homelessness report: “In
2012, the estimated average cost per person served in homelessness
prevention was $787, which is 60 (percent) less than the estimated cost
of $1,322 per person served in an emergency shelter.”

Meanwhile, permanent supportive housing topped the list of costs, coming in at an average of $6,049 per person.

Despite the ambitious goals and promising results, the
group’s prevention program has run into some problems. The federal
government never renewed temporary federal stimulus funding that was
financing a bulk of the prevention program, which cut off a major source
of money starting in July 2012. Strategies to End Homelessness managed
to pick up funding later in the year through the federal Emergency
Solutions Grant, but the financial support is much more modest,
according to the report.

Still, Strategies to End Homelessness appears undeterred.
The report claims 78 percent of shelter residents transitioned to
housing in 2012. The organization intends to continue prioritizing its
resources to achieve similar sustainable outcomes in the next few years.

Strategies to End Homelessness is a collaborative that
pools local homeless agencies, including the Drop Inn Center, Lighthouse
Youth Services and the Talbert House, to tackle homelessness with a
less redundant, more unified strategy.

In 2009, City Council and Hamilton County commissioners
approved the organization’s Homeless to Homes Plan to “ensure that
homeless people receive high-quality emergency shelter with
comprehensive services to assist them out of homelessness.”

Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls and ex-Councilman John Cranley focused most of their disagreement on the streetcar and parking lease
at yesterday’s first post-primary mayoral debate. No matter the
subject, Cranley repeatedly referenced his opposition to the streetcar
project and his belief that it’s siphoning city funds from more
important projects and forcing the city to raise property taxes to pay
for debt. Qualls argued the streetcar project will produce economic
growth and grow the city’s tax base, which the city could then leverage
for more development projects; that claim has been backed by studies
from consulting firm HDR and the University of Cincinnati, which put the
streetcar’s return on investment at three-to-one. On the parking lease,
Qualls claimed money raised through the lease could be used to leverage
economic development projects, while Cranley said the lease would hurt an
entire generation by shifting control of Cincinnati’s parking assets
from the city to the unelected Port Authority and private companies.

State Rep. Denise Driehaus and Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld, both of Cincinnati, called on the state government
to reverse its decision to not give local company Pure Romance tax
credits. Pure Romance, a $100 million-plus company whose product lineup
includes sex toys, was planning on moving from Loveland to downtown
Cincinnati with local and state support, but because the state declined
the tax breaks, the company is now considering moving to Covington, Ky.
Gov. John Kasich’s administration has said Pure Romance doesn’t fit into
the traditional industries the state invests in, but Democratic
legislators argue Kasich’s social conservatism is getting in the way of
keeping jobs in Ohio.

Ohio House Speaker William Batchelder says he has “literally no thoughts”
about the possibility of the state expanding Medicaid without the
legislature and through the state Controlling Board — a possibility that
Kasich hinted at earlier in the week. Kasich has been pleading with the
Ohio General Assembly to take up the federally funded Medicaid
expansion, but Republican legislators have so far refused. If the Controlling
Board does expand Medicaid, Batchelder said the state legislature will
likely pass some protections in case the federal government reneges on
its funding proposal. Under Obamacare, states are asked to expand
Medicaid to 138 percent of the federal poverty level; if they accept,
the federal government will pay for the entire expansion through 2016
then phase its payments down to an indefinite 90 percent.

Documents uncovered by USA Today further show the IRS, particularly through its offices in Cincinnati, targeted tea party groups by looking at “anti-Obama rhetoric,” inflammatory language and “emotional” statements made by nonprofits seeking tax-exempt status.

Hamilton County once again froze new work on a $3.2 billion project that will retrofit Cincinnati’s sewers
because of a dispute concerning the city’s established bidding
requirements. City Council in 2012 passed and in 2013 further adjusted
rules that require companies bidding for lucrative sewer contracts to
meet specific local hiring and training standards. City Council says the
requirements will produce more local jobs, but Hamilton County
commissioners argue that the rules favor unions and cost too much for
businesses. Councilman Chris Seelbach and Commissioner Chris Monzel were
originally working on a compromise, but prospects fell through after
City Council rejected the deal. CityBeat covered the conflict in further detail here.

Covington, Ky., is publicly welcoming Pure Romance to the other side of the Ohio River,
which could cost Cincinnati and Ohio up to 120 jobs and $100 million in
revenue. Pure Romance was initially planning to move from Loveland,
Ohio, to downtown Cincinnati with some tax support from the city and
state, but after the state’s tax credit agencies rejected the plan, the
company has been getting better offers from out-of-state sources,
including Covington. Ohio officials say they denied Pure Romance because the
company isn’t part of a target industry such as biotech, energy or
logistics, but emails have suggested that the Republican state government is worried about the
deal coming off as politically embarrassing because some of Pure
Romance’s products include sex toys.

Ohio coal officials repeatedly complained about the state’s water pollution rules
to Gov. John Kasich, whose administration then carried on the
complaints to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Kasich’s
office insists it was just trying to collect “different viewpoints and then work
together to challenge each other to do the best job possible,” but
environmental advocates say the governor was putting unfair pressure on a
state agency just trying to do its job. The conflict might explain why
the Ohio EPA’s top water-quality official, George Elmaraghy, was forced
to resign after claiming that coal companies are pursuing permits “that
may have a negative impact on Ohio streams and wetlands and violate
state and federal laws.”

The tea party-backed pension reform effort on Thursday sued to change ballot language
approved by the Hamilton County Board of Elections. The lawsuit says
the current ballot language is making “conjecture and partisan
argumentation” by claiming the pension amendment will force the city to
raise taxes, fees or other revenues to cope with stricter requirements
for paying back Cincinnati’s $872 million pension liability. If it’s
approved by voters, the amendment would effectively privatize the city’s
pension system so future city employees, minus police and firefighters,
would be required to contribute to and manage an individual 401k-style
plan; currently, the city pools city employees’ retirement funds, makes
its own contribution and invests the funds through an independent board.
CityBeat covered the tea party-backed pension amendment in further detail here.

Hamilton County sheriffs are rolling out a three-phase plan
to move homeless squatters out of county buildings and especially the
Hamilton County Courthouse, where much of the city’s homeless population
has been sleeping and defecating. Sheriffs will first set up bathrooms,
such as portable potties, and try to identify the needs of the
squatters and whether they should be connected to mental health or other
services; during the month of the first phase, homeless people will be
allowed to remain in the buildings. Then sheriffs will get more strict
and forcibly remove people but still connect them to special services.
Finally, the affected buildings will be cleaned up.

An upcoming report will likely place legislators and police and fire officials in conflict
over the state’s police and fire pension system. Supporters of the
pension system claim it’s financially stable, but a state consultants
predicted that an actuarial report will soon show the pension system is
failing to make its required commitments and will be unable to play for
health care benefits beyond 15 years. Despite the problems, pension
officials say they want to avoid more changes until the most recent
changes are in place for one year. The most recent reforms will be
officially in place for one year on July 2014, but they won’t show up on
actuarial reports until late 2015, which means further changes would
have to be held off until 2016 at the earliest under pension
officials’ suggestion.

The reason reported mayoral primary results seemed to stall midway through counting: a memory card mix-up.
Hamilton County Board of Elections Director Amy Searcy says the memory
cards were never in an insecure environment, but some memory cards were
locked up and left behind, while others were accidentally taken to a
warehouse instead of the Board of Elections.

Cincinnati’s largest mall, currently known as Forest Fair
Village and previously named Cincinnati Mall, Cincinnati Mills and
Forest Fair Mall, is apparently not for sale, despite early reports from The Business Courier.

Social robots can easily replace humans as dogs’ best friend, according to a new study in Animal Recognition.

State senator gives proposal another shot in Ohio

State Sen. Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) is introducing
legislation Thursday that would attach mandatory drug testing to welfare
benefits, even though similar policies have proven to be costly with
little gain in other states.

“It is time that we recognize that many families are
trying to survive in drug-induced poverty, and we have an obligation to
make sure taxpayer money is not being used to support drug dealers,”
Schaffer told The Columbus Dispatch. “We can no longer turn a blind eye to this problem.”

Under the proposal, welfare recipients in three counties
would be required to take a drug test if they admit in a questionnaire
to using drugs in the past six months. Children, who make up a bulk of
welfare recipients, would be exempt. (In June, 24,443 adults and 105,822
children obtained welfare benefits in Ohio, according to data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.)

The policy, which was originally touted as a way to reduce
welfare costs, has backfired in many states. That’s why the supporting
line is now about preventing dollars from going to drug dealers instead
of cost savings.

Deseret News
reports the latest problems in Utah: “Utah has spent more than $30,000
to screen welfare applicants for drug use since a new law went into
effect a year ago, but only 12 people have tested positive, state
figures show.”

When Ohio legislators in 2012 proposed a drug testing requirement for welfare benefits, CityBeatreported another failure in Florida originally covered by The Miami Herald:
In that state, the program had a net loss of $45,780 after it
reimbursed falsely accused welfare recipients for their drug tests. Only
108 people out of the 4,086 accused, or 2.9 percent, tested positive,
and most tested positive for marijuana.

A court placed an injunction on the Florida program after
the American Civil Liberties Union sued on September 2011. That injunction
was upheld on Feb. 26 by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals in
Atlanta, which concluded,
“The simple fact of seeking public assistance does not deprive a TANF
(welfare) applicant of the same constitutional protection from
unreasonable searches that all other citizens enjoy.”

Given that Schaffer’s bill would require drug testing only
after information is solicited through questionnaires, it’s unclear
whether legal challenges like the one in Florida would be successful in
Ohio.

Cincinnati lost 4,000 jobs
from June to July, but it gained 14,000 between July 2012 and July this
year, far above the 3,000 necessary to keep up with annual population
growth, according to data released yesterday by the Ohio Department of
Job and Family Services. The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was
at 7.1 percent in July, down from 7.3 percent in June and 7.4 percent
in July 2012. The labor force shrunk in comparison to the previous month
and year, which means the unemployment rate fell partly because many
people stopped looking for jobs. In comparison, Ohio’s seasonally
unadjusted unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in July and the U.S. rate
was 7.4 percent.

More JobsOhio controversy: The state panel that approves
tax credits recommended by the privatized development agency has never
said no, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
Gov. John Kasich and Republicans say the Ohio Tax Credit Authority is
supposed to be an independent watchdog on JobsOhio, but both JobsOhio
and the Ohio Tax Credit Authority have their boards appointed by the
governor. Democrats have been highly critical of JobsOhio for its lack
of transparency and privatized nature, but Republicans say both are good
traits for an agency that needs to move fast to land job-creating
development deals.

Meanwhile, two Democrats in the Ohio House are pushing a ban
on Ohio officials, including the governor, receiving outside pay. The
proposal is largely in response to JobsOhio recommending $619,000 in tax
credits in 2012 and 2013 to Worthington Industries, a company that paid
Kasich through 2012 for his time on its board. The Ohio Ethics
Commission refused to investigate the potential conflict of interest
because it said Kasich made a clean break from Worthington when he was
elected.

Hamilton County taxpayers might have to put up $10 million
to give the Cincinnati Bengals a high-definition scoreboard, thanks to
the team’s lease with the county. Economists generally see stadiums as
one of the most over-hyped, unsuccessful urban investments, according to The Nation.

No City Council member supports the tea party-backed pension amendment that would privatize Cincinnati’s pension system so future city workers, excluding
cops and firefighters, contribute to and manage individual 401k-style
accounts. Currently, Cincinnati pools pension funds and manages the
investments through an independent board. City officials and unions
claim the measure will cost the city more than the current system and
hurt retirement gains for city employees. But tea party groups say the
amendment is necessary to address Cincinnati’s growing pension costs,
including an $862 million unfunded liability. CityBeat wrote about the amendment and the groups that could be behind it in further detail here.

Ohio is partnering up with the Jason Foundation to provide training and information
to teachers, coaches, other school personnel, parents and students
about suicide, the second leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds
after car accidents. The measure aims to curb down suicide rates.

Hamilton County and Cincinnati are pursuing joint funding
of technology upgrades for 911 services, and the two local governments are moving
permitting services to one location, according to a statement from
Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann’s office. Hartmann has long pursued more city-county collaboration so both can run more
efficiently and bring down costs.

The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) yesterday reported 2013’s first case of West Nile Virus.
A 72-year-old woman in Cuyahoga County is apparently being hospitalized for the disease. ODH Director Ted Wymyslo said in a statement that,
while Ohio has dealt with West Nile Virus since 2002, cases have dropped
in the past year.

Employment down from June but up compared to last year

The Cincinnati area lost 4,000 jobs from June to July, but
it gained 14,000 between July 2012 and July this year, far above the 3,000 necessary to keep up with annual population growth, according to
data released today by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was at 7.1
percent in July, down from 7.3 percent in June and 7.4 percent in July
2012. The labor force
shrunk in comparison to the previous month and year, which means the unemployment rate fell partly because many
people stopped looking for jobs.

The unemployment rate gauges the amount of unemployed
people looking for work in comparison to the total civilian labor force,
which means a decrease in the labor force can bring down the unemployment
rate even if employment also drops.

Economists generally prefer looking at year-over-year
numbers to control for seasonal factors, such as teachers leaving the work force at the end of the school year.

July’s job gains were largest in professional and business
services, leisure and hospitality and educational and health services,
but the city lost jobs in mining, logging and construction,
manufacturing and all levels of government.

Ohio’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in July. The U.S. rate was 7.4 percent.

Since the job numbers are derived from surveys, they are often revised in later months.

Ohio’s unemployment rate remained at 7.2 percent in July, unchanged from June, according to new data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
The amount of employed Ohioans went up by 5,300 from month-to-month and
37,700 year-over-year, showing stronger signs of job growth than earlier in the year. But the amount of jobless Ohioans still looking for jobs went up by
3,000 between June and July. In the past year, the private
service-providing sector, education and health services and leisure and
hospitality have gained the most jobs, while local government and
construction jobs have plummeted.

The Port Authority of Greater Cincinnati proposed keeping neighborhood parking meter hours the same under a lease agreement with Cincinnati in which the city is handing over control of its parking meters, lots and garages to the Port and the agency is tasking private companies with operating the assets. Keeping the meter hours
the same as today, instead of expanding them as previously suggested,
would lower Cincinnati’s upfront lease revenue from $92 million
to $88.3 million and reduce annual payments, which were originally
projected at $3 million but estimated to go up over the life of the
lease. Still, the move would satisfy neighborhood residents and businesses who were worried the expanded hours would quickly become a financial hassle. CityBeat covered the parking lease and the controversy surrounding it in further detail here.

Republican legislators are reintroducing a bill that would ban abortions in Ohio as early as six weeks after conception,
even though questions remain about the proposal’s constitutionality.
The bill has been dubbed the “heartbeat bill” because it prohibits
abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. A federal judge on July
22 blocked a similar law in North Dakota after deeming it
unconstitutional. “The United States Supreme Court has unequivocally
said that no state may deprive a woman of the choice to terminate her
pregnancy at a point prior to viability,” wrote U.S. District Judge
Daniel Hovland, who was appointed to the District of North Dakota seat
by former President George W. Bush in 2002. Health experts generally
agree viability is not reached until 24 weeks into the pregnancy.

The Ohio Ethics Commission won’t investigate Gov. John Kasich’s relationship with a company
that received $619,000 in tax credits from JobsOhio because Kasich
supposedly made a clean break from the company upon taking office.
JobsOhio, the privatized development agency established by Kasich and
Republican legislators, has been mired in controversy in the past few
weeks for providing state aid to companies that have direct financial
ties to JobsOhio board members and the governor.

Cincinnati mayoral candidate and ex-Councilman John Cranley on Thursday unveiled an innovation plan
that he says will boost government transparency and help foster
Cincinnati’s newly gained reputation as a tech startup hub. The plan
would take $5 million in capital funds over four years and ask local
startup incubators Cintrifuse, The Brandery and CincyTech where they
would like to see the money going. It would also call for hiring a chief
innovation officer (CIO) and creating “CincyData,” a transparency
initiative that would gather and publish city data to create “a more
efficient, effective and user-friendly City government.” Under the plan,
both the CIO position and CincyData would be leveraged to find new ways
to carry out city services in the hopes of running the local government
more efficiently.

Cincinnati Public Schools’ ratings are likely to dip
as the school district transitions into Common Core standards and a
new state report card system. Superintendent Mary Ronan says the
district is doing well but needs to work on getting kids’ reading scores
up to grade level. CityBeat originally covered the ratings drop here and some of the hurdles faced by CPS in the past few years here.